Paopu Birdcage
by Miss Kass
Summary: The Paopu Birdcage was a new karaoke bar on their small island; bright rooms for people who want to make idiots of themselves. But this one night, singing and foolishness became one more journey into the light.


**Spoilers:** AU, so none.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts and make no money from this fic. Though I wish I did.

--

After a particularly gruelling day at school, Sora had insisted that Riku accompany him to the new bar that had opened near their campus. It was being touted as the most interesting place on the island at the time, and while neither of them could truly believe a bar was the most interesting place ('cause hell, they'd fought the shadows with oversized keys, and not a lot else could incite that kind of interest), they were slightly intrigued by the concept.

It was a karaoke bar, a bunch of little booths packed into a building where businessmen and horny teenagers went to either blow off or create steam, depending on which category they fell into. Sora wasn't able to rope Kairi into going with them - something about doing her hair or talking on the phone, Sora didn't bother listening too closely when she was making excuses - so while Riku was put off by the idea that the only other teenagers there would be making out, he grudgingly agreed to go with Sora. After all, what could the younger boy do to him? If Riku didn't want anything to happen, he was sure that nothing would happen, Sora's skinny frame may have been able to take out the darkness, but Riku's pride wouldn't be overcome by the smaller brunet.

So when the clock struck six, Sora appeared at the door of Riku's house, nodding to his mother and dragging his older friend away to the bar. The place was visible from miles away, a glittering neon sign proclaiming it to be "the swingin'-est place on the islands", the bar's name lit up in lights above that: "The Paopu Birdcage".

"Paopu Birdcage?" Riku stated quizzically as he looked up at the sign.

"How am I supposed to know what it means?" Sora said in return, grinning over at his friend. "I suppose birds sing… and paopu are symbolic here?" He mulled the name over in his head for a moment before blinking and tugging on Riku's arm. "It's not important; we should be getting inside before all the booths disappear."

Considering there was nobody else around, Riku found it to be highly unlikely that the place would book out, but followed Sora obligingly into the bar. The instant he set foot inside he was blinded by more flashing lights, even the barmaid's nametag was inset with glowing LEDs. He blinked and groaned, trailing behind Sora as the brunet went over to the bar.

"Uhm… we'd like to sing?" Sora flashed one of his glowing smiles at the woman, who flashed one in return and plucked a card off the wall behind her.

"You're room 483, okay?" She jiggled a little while handing the card over, Riku distracted momentarily by the movement of her breasts as she leaned over the counter. Sora nodded at her and took the card, a little shocked at the idea that they had that many rooms.

"Oh, no, we don't have that much space," the woman laughed, as though she'd been reading his mind. "It's just a bunch of numbers the owner picked. Apparently it's supposed to make everything more psychedelic if the room numbers don't follow any particular order.

"He's a bit of a kook, though, so we're just glad he pays the wages." She winked at them, holding Riku's gaze for a moment and quirking an eyebrow before turning back around. "Have fun, boys."

Sora smiled down at the card and took hold of Riku's arm again, heading in the direction the flashing arrows on the walls were pointing. If their room was anything like this, Riku was sure he was going to have a brain aneurysm, or somehow develop a tendency towards seizures; this place was ridiculously colourful. Soon they reached their booth, after passing a bunch of other uselessly numbered rooms. "Ugh, it may not fit the theme of this place, but numbers that made sense would have been nice."

"Aw, come on Riku, lighten up!" Sora stopped abruptly. "We're here!" He slid the card through the slot on the door, sighing softly as the reader flashed up an error code. But, sliding it through again, the light next to the door flashed green and the door clicked open. The brunet pushed through, finding a room that was, thankfully, rather bland. It was all grey and green, like some kind of desolate building, but Riku was just glad it didn't flash psychotically like the rest of the bar did.

Riku wandered around the room, running his hand over the leather chairs before going to check out the playlist of songs they had to choose from. He scrolled through most of them, some from obscure foreign bands ("Spring nicked?" "Just ignore it, Riku, go on to something we might know." "Oobers end-ee derr… welt?" "Riku, really.") and some just plan girly and unsingable ("Barbie Girl?" "Not on your life." "T-t-t-t-t-t-touch me~" "Only if you're Janet, my dear bra-clad friend."), until he reached the musicals section.

"Oooh, I might know something from here," Sora said, pushing Riku out of the way and tapping the button to scroll through the songs.

"Why would that be, Sora?" Riku enjoyed poking fun at his friend for his love of musical theatre, though he'd always assumed Sora would be into the brightness of musicals. It was just in his nature to love exaggerated bouncy songs, and things with meaningful lyrics as well… Riku was suddenly jerked from his thoughts by Sora pushing a microphone into his hands. "Wait, what?"

"We're on! It's a duet, okay?" Without waiting for Riku to answer, Sora bounded over to the chairs and slid into one, keeping an attentive eye on the screen. Riku moved his mouth like a fish out of water before slipping into another of the leather chairs, almost sinking into the cushions. The song started a moment later, but luckily Sora was the one to start.

"_Summer lovin', havin' a blast._" Sora smiled brightly at Riku, who was currently cursing his own existence as he realised what they were singing. He blurted out the next line, though, his eyes not even on the screen, instead on the face of his friend. When he realised he was all but serenading Sora (who was playing the part of the girl, which had not escaped Riku's knowledge), he turned quickly back to the screen, just in time to catch Sora's next line: "_he got friendly, holdin' my hand_." Gosh, the song had moved along while Riku had been zoned out.

Luckily, though, the song was soon over, and Riku and Sora were crooning the last note of the song, the one where they just made howling sounds into the microphone, imitating the character's voice as best they could. Sora chuckled into the microphone as the note died away, throwing it down onto the seat next to him and peering around the room for the inevitable bar fridge of alcohol left for the singers who were getting sick of the embarrassment of sobriety. Finally clamping his eyes on the small fridge he grinned happily, going over to it and extracting a few travel-sized bottles of various alcohols for himself and Riku, setting them down on the table between them. "Drink?"

"Uh… yeah," Riku said quickly, jerked out of his fugue by the sound of Sora's voice. He downed a bottle of vodka, wincing at the alcoholic burn as it flew down his throat. Not being a drinker by any meaning of the word, he was still slightly awkward while drinking hard spirits, but his subconscious sense of pride forced him to appear better at it than Sora. And since Sora was only taking short sips, coughing a little after every mouthful, Riku's pride was appeased.

Some sips later, Sora decided to wander over to the karaoke machine again, scrolling through more of the songs. Riku had sprawled out on the couch, twirling the microphone between his fingers. If he was to be honest with himself, he didn't really care what they sang any more, he was very much liking being with Sora in a non-school environment, they didn't often have enough time for each other now that they were stuck in a place where nobody was trying to kill them. Well, Nobodies weren't trying to kill them… whatever, they weren't threatened by death on the safety of Destiny Islands.

As Sora settled on a song, Riku eyed off the remaining bottles of alcohol on the table, knowing that if his friend was taking this long to decide, he was going to be at least a little bothered by what they were singing. He selected a bottle of rum, downing that as well and beginning to feel the effects of the vodka he'd had earlier. He felt a lot more pleasant now, still twirling his microphone, watching Sora return to retrieve his own microphone.

"We up?"

"Yep."

The first few notes of the song began to flow out of the speakers all around the room, something unfamiliar to Riku beginning to play. Again, Sora took the first lines of the song, eyeing off Riku as he sang, which Riku assumed was in order to make sure he was paying enough attention to start singing when it was his turn.

"_… just pay me back, with one thousand kisses_." Hang on, what? Riku's brain stopped for a moment to process what Sora had just sung, the brunet flicking his eyes between Riku's and the screen to signify that he'd have to start singing soon. Riku coughed lightly, face flushed (though he'd convince himself later he was only red because of the alcohol) and looked back at the screen, seeing that lyrics for him were coming up.

"_Open your door, I'll be your tenant_..." Riku began, casting his eyes sideways every now and again to watch Sora. Occasionally the brunet's eyes were on the screen, making sure Riku wasn't totally mutilating the song (though what was the fun in karaoke if you weren't destroying someone else's work), but at other times the boys would lock eyes, Riku looking back at the screen quickly.

As they began to sing together, Riku noticed that Sora's mouth was closer to the microphone than before, and he'd sprawled out in the chair much like Riku was, his legs parted, his free arm picking at the leather.

"_You'll be my king, and I'll be your castle_."

"_No, you'll be my queen, and I'll be your moat_."

They sang together again, Riku realising what this song had to be about. From the pictures playing on the screen underneath the text, his suspicions were confirmed, two people prancing around the screen singing to each other. But while he'd assumed Sora was singing the part of the female, on closer inspection the two characters were men, and the lyrics were getting more… to the point. "_Oh lover… I'll cover you_."

The song finally finished, the room drifting into silence as the boys trailed off. "Uh… another song?" Riku was still red, scratching awkwardly at his cheek as he failed to make eye contact with Sora. The fact that he was pointedly not looking at Sora meant he didn't notice Sora moving towards him, and wasn't expecting the kiss pressed to his lips.

"Oh lover, I'd do anything for you." Sora giggled in what could be called a 'girly' fashion, and flounced over to the machine again, his microphone forgotten on the chair. Riku brought his hand to his lips, lost in his thoughts until he realised another song was beginning. He was glad for the extended opening, because he was the one who had to start here for once.

"_Who do you think you are, barging in on me and my guitar?_" Riku kept his eyes on the scrolling text, feeling Sora shift in the chair next to him rather than seeing it. When it came to the end of his lyrics he looked across at his friend, who was sprawled out once again, his eyes on the screen. At the end of Sora's portion of lyrics he caught Riku's eye, licking the top of the microphone. The older boy looked away quickly, flushing even redder than before, convinced that after this song he'd be drinking more.

Sora, however, had different ideas for after this song. While Riku was singing the brunet slipped to the ground unnoticed, ending up between Riku's legs without the other boy noticing. When he did notice (due to the silence from Sora's microphone as the female part started again), he blinked with surprise and looked between the chair and Sora's current place on the ground, a little confused as to why his friend was now on the floor. "Sora, wha…?" He trailed off as Sora licked the top of the microphone again, Riku drawing in a sharp breath he hoped Sora didn't hear.

"What're you doing?" Sora didn't answer, instead wrapping his lips around the top of the microphone, hollowing his cheeks as he sucked on the metal and plastic. Riku gasped again, spreading his legs subconsciously so he could slip down in the chair and be closer to his friend. "Sora…"

Sora pulled the microphone out of his mouth with a pop, grinning about getting the reaction that he'd wanted. He dragged the instrument along his face, leaving a shiny trail of saliva from his mouth to his chin, the phallic object exactly imitating what he knew Riku was seeing in his mind. Riku's arms fell to the arms of the chair, his microphone slipping from his fingers and clattering to the floor, the song entirely forgotten.

Sora licked his tongue along his lips slowly, taking his microphone and dragging it down Riku's chest, and then over the bulge in the older boy's trousers that had been prominent since a few songs ago. Without looking at the screen, Sora mouthed the words '_give in to love, or live in fear_' as they were flashing on the screen, but it wasn't like Riku was paying attention to the song any more anyway.

Discarding the microphone, Sora instead ran his fingers over Riku's crotch, eliciting a shiver from his friend, and grinning like a brown-haired Cheshire cat. At that, Riku found the strength to tangle his fingers in Sora's hair and turn his friend's face upwards. "What are you doing?"

"Being your lover," Sora laughed. "Like the song says?"

"But… what?" Riku was lost for words, the alcohol not doing a great deal to help his brain think of anything to say.

Sora cocked his head. "Just go with it. You trust me, don't you?"

_A million times yes_, was what ran through Riku's mind. After all, they'd fought the darkness together. And the Nobodies. And the Heartless. And even when they weren't fighting for the same cause (though Riku was always fighting with Sora, even when fighting against him), Riku never stopped trusting Sora. And never stopped loving him, either, but that was like a brother. Not like this.

But, trusting of the brunet like he wanted him to be, Riku moved his hands back to the arms of the chair, closing his eyes briefly to steel himself before looking back down at Sora. His friend looked debauched, crouching between Riku's legs on the floor of some gaudy bar, a trail of saliva leading from his mouth to his chin, his eyes half-lidded as he gazed at Riku. When Riku made eye contact with him, Sora cracked a smile, his real self shining through the sexual _thing_ sitting on the floor.

The song had long since ended, so the sound of Riku's zip as Sora dragged it down was loud in the soundproofed room. The girl who had let them in was a faint memory, pushed to the back of Riku's mind in favour of a new fantasy, who was now slowly removing Riku's trousers, urging his hips up so the jeans could be pulled off his body. Riku hadn't even realised Sora had already removed his shoes.

Now dressed only in his shirt and his boxers, Riku felt exposed, no matter how much he trusted his friend. But when Sora pulled on Riku's legs, forcing his body further down the chair, Riku didn't fight back. Even when Sora nuzzled his cheek into Riku's crotch, no words of disapproval came from the older boy, simply a low moan at the touch.

When Sora pulled away, though, instead of giving Riku what he'd expected, the silver-haired boy let out a whimper, clapping his hand over his mouth as though to hide the sound. Sora grinned (his signature look now tainted in Riku's mind by the memory of what the younger boy had done, but Riku found that it didn't bother him as much as he'd thought), settling on the arm of the chair in order to tug off his shoes. He threw them over his shoulder haphazardly, one of them hitting the screen and selecting a song to play.

Riku barely noticed the song beginning as Sora attacked his lips, covering them with his own, pressing his tongue insistently against Riku's as the older boy gasped. Moving away slightly, Sora mouthed the words '_just play the game_' against Riku's lips, unbuttoning the older boy's shirt as he scattered butterfly kisses around Riku's face.

With Riku's shirt open, Sora moved down his friend's body like an oversized cat, licking at kissing Riku's exposed chest, running his fingers gently over Riku's rapidly hardening nipples. When he reached Riku's boxers, Sora looked up at the older boy's face for a moment, making sure that eye contact was made before he pulled the boxers down Riku's legs, finally freeing his erection. Riku let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, closing his eyes once again to refocus himself. He certainly wasn't used to what was going on, but he'd all but made a promise to Sora that he'd go through with whatever his friend did, and he would keep that unspoken promise.

Sora fiddled about in his pocket for a moment before returning his eyes to Riku's, dragging his fingers (now much cooler than before) up Riku's thigh, taking hold of the older boy's cock just moments before a finger penetrated him. Riku gasped and tensed around the finger, but had the presence of mind to stay still, or maybe it was the distraction of Sora's hand moving gracefully over his erection that kept him from shying away. Sora waited until Riku stilled and relaxed, still moving his right hand slowly as the finger on his left hand twisted experimentally.

Eyes trained on Sora, Riku was uncomfortable to say the least. Being naked in front of his friend was nothing new, they'd been together practically forever. But being touched, especially _there_, by his innocent younger friend… that was another something new to him in this all-new situation, and his brain had to take a moment to process it. While his brain was processing, though, Sora had added another lube-slicked finger, continuing to use the pleasure of touch to distract Riku from what was undoubtedly painful for someone who'd never done that before.

The song continued to play in the background as Sora worked, Riku shifting slightly under his pleasurable touches. '_For once the shadows gave way to light_' Sora muttered to himself, glad that Riku couldn't see his smile at the lyric. For once the dark still trapped in Riku was changing into the most amazing light, burning the dark away. The idea was clichéd even in Sora's mind, but he pushed it away as he stopped scissoring his fingers, content with the fact that Riku was ready.

As Sora removed his fingers, Riku let out a whine again; he only ever seemed to make sounds when he wanted something from Sora, never just to express his own pleasure. It made Sora want to figure out the way to make Riku loud... the way to vocalise that light. "Riku~, wait," Sora sing-songed, still moving his hand along Riku's cock, though a little awkwardly, given that his other hand was attempting to carefully remove his trousers.

It took a little time for Sora to get his trousers down enough, but once he had he removed his hand from Riku's cock, earning himself another distressed whimper. Obviously Riku was close, itching to release, but Sora needed to get what he wanted first. After all, didn't he always? Riku was only at the club because Sora had pushed him… Riku was still in Sora's life only because he pushed him to rescind the darkness and save the world. Shaking his head, Sora pulled Riku's body further down the chair until he fell into Sora's lap, his eyes slightly glassy from all the stimulation.

"Trust me," Sora whispered into Riku's ear, waiting until the older boy nodded before he moved his hand to grasp his own erection, lining it up with Riku's hole and pushing up carefully. Riku stayed relaxed, which was more than Sora had expected for the surprised boy, but he was still unresponsive. Slowly, Sora began to move inside his friend, the last part of the song belting out across the room.

Reaching his hand up to grasp Riku's cock, and reaching his lips up to meet Riku's own, every part of Sora was busy making sure that Riku was as comfortable as he could be. With one hand he rubbed small circles over Riku's back, with the other he stroked up and down Riku's flesh, swirling his thumb over the top at the end of the stroke, and with his lips he whispered against Riku's lips one of the final lines of the song; '_you're not alone_'. At that, Riku gasped, not because he was losing something, but because he was finding it.

Riku kissed Sora, their lips close enough that he didn't have to shift a great deal from his current position. He was the one who slipped his tongue into the other's mouth that time, but Sora was still in charge, simultaneously causing him the pleasure he wanted and the dull, painful ache he didn't. But the ache was like his darkness, the pleasure his light, the whole metaphor strangely familiar in Riku's addled and distracted mind, both parts needed to keep him whole.

Soon Sora was moving faster, not forgetting that Riku was already halfway done, had been coveting touch for as long as Sora had been coveting the skin that was available to be touched. Riku was making small sounds with every thrust, his arms having moved from their places at his sides to Sora's shoulders, raising himself up and letting himself back down to meet Sora's movements. They were strangely graceful for boys who'd never touched each other before, one reverent over what he'd wanted for so long, the other accepting what he'd finally realised he'd often wanted too.

Riku ached from the unfamiliar strain on his body, but the pain was slowly being usurped by the building pleasure from their movements. Riku pushed the thought that Sora had obviously done this before out of his mind, arching against his friend as Sora's cock brushed his prostate. The song had died away long ago, leaving only Sora's breathy moans and Riku's occasional sound of pleasure piercing the silence.

Sora soon brought Riku to his release, a combination of his quick strokes and smooth thrusts leaving Riku shuddering in the younger boy's arms. After that, Sora's smooth thrusts quickly became jittery and he came inside Riku, moaning the older boy's name in the silence of the room. Sora shifted backwards and pulled out, taking a moment to collect himself before gathering his clothes. Once he'd picked them all up, he turned back to find Riku staring at him.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why this?" Riku seemed intent on getting an answer, unmoving from his position, dressed only in an unbuttoned shirt, leaning back against the chair as his breathing steadied.

"Why do I do anything for you?"

All he got in response was a stare.

"Because I love you, silly." Sora threw Riku's clothes at him, waiting for him to put them on so they could leave.

But Riku was too busy figuring out Sora's comment. "W… what?"

"Remember when I saved you? From the darkness?" Sora looked questioningly at Riku, though the older boy still looked shocked, so Sora was forced to go on. "Maybe it's easier… maybe remember when you saved me from the darkness.

"You shut yourself away to save the world. To save me. Wasn't that because of love?"

Riku thought for a moment, pulling his boxers and trousers on before answering. "… yes?"

"I saved you for the same reason." Sora grinned, and this time it wasn't tainted by nudity or illicit acts, but it was the same old Sora again, Riku's best friend and partner in crime. "Love. The light. Everything good."

"And this? How was this for love?"

"I saved you from singing, didn't I?"

Riku couldn't help but laugh along with Sora, remembering the reason they'd come to this gaudy place. "Yeah."


End file.
